This Just Solved Your Smart Home's BIGGEST Problem

Aqara just released their Matter enabled Aqara T2 Dual Relay, and it solves EVERYTHING!!

This video is sponsored by Aqara, all opinions are my own

Aqara T2 wiring is fairly straight forward for most tasks, but I've included an example as to how to wire the Aqara T2 into a 2 Gang light switch. It does unfortunately require a neutral wire for this setup, but it will give you a locally controlled Matter enabled Smart home light switch that is Zigbee based and works with Home Assistant, Amazon Alexa, Google Assistant and Apple Homekit AND has energy monitoring!! This is one of the smartest Smart Home gadgets on the market!

I have also wired the Aqara T2 into my boiler for on/off control, and it's awesome!! You'll need to check your boiler can be controlled with dry contact relays (dry contact is often called "potential free contact") for on/off control.

BUY THE AQARA T2 DUAL RELAY HERE
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THE ULTIMATE SMART HOME LIST!
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. By buying through any of the links below I will earn commission at no extra cost to you :)

SWITCHBOT PRODUCTS

CONBEE STICK (ENABLES ZIGBEE DEVICES TO CONNECT TO HOME ASSISTANT):

OUTDOORLED STRIP (REQUIRES TUYA ZIGBEE HUB OR CONBEE STICK AND PI)

AQARA ZIGBEE MOTION SENSORS AND DOOR SENSORS (REQUIRES AQARA HUB OR CONBEE STICK & PI):

AQARA LIGHT BULB E27 (REQUIRES AQARA HUB OR CONBEE STICK & PI):

AQARA LIGHT SWITCH (REQUIRES AQARA HUB OR CONBEE STICK & PI):

AQARA BATTERY REMOTE LIGHT SWITCH (REQUIRES AQARA HUB OR CONBEE STICK & PI):

FLIC BUTTONS (SMART BLUETOOTH BUTTONS):

BUY A RASPBERRY PI HERE (TO HOST HOME ASSISTANT):

BROADLINK RM4 PRO (TO CONTROL INFRARED DEVICES SUCH AS TV & RF DEVICES SUCH AS PROJECTOR SCREENS)

ZIGBEE PLUG SOCKET (REQUIRES ZIGBEE HUB SUCH AS HUBITAT OR SMARTTHINGS):

REMOTE CONTROL CANDLES (INFRARED CAN BE CONTROLLED USING A BROADLINK RM4 PRO)

DECORATIVE BULBS FROM SHELLY

ZIGBEE SPOTLIGHTS & RGB REMOTE

ROBOROCK ROBOVACS

SOMA SMART BLIND MOTOR:

LOCK COVERS (MARRIAGE SAVERS)

4K HORIZON PRO PROJECTOR IN THE BEDROOM

AMAZON ECHO 4TH GENERATION:

ECHO SHOW 10

0:00 - Intro
1:43 - Aqara T2 Dual Relay Overview
5:25 - Wiring the Aqara T2 Dual Relay to a 2 Gang Light Switch
8:38 - Aqara T2 Dual Relay Boiler Control
9:03 - Other examples of how to use the Aqara T2 Dual Relay
10:13 - What's wrong with it?

#aqara #review #futuretech #technology #smarthome #smarthomegadgets #smartgadgets

[paulhibbert]

Happy Saturday everyone!! Major Aqara video coming up off the back of this!! Get it below if you want one!…

BUY THE AQARA T2 DUAL RELAY HERE
As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. By buying through any of the links below I will earn commission at no extra cost to you :)

[NickAskew]

I'm glad you mentioned OpenTherm. Here in the Netherlands I understand that the requirements is that all boilers and thermostats have to be OpenTherm compliant. For those that do not know what this means, well effectively it means the thermostat can control the level of demand so that if the room/house is massively too cold then the boiler can be told to go nuts and produce as much heat as possible which may be less efficient. If the room/house is slightly too chilly then the boiler can reduce its output temperature and so use less gas. So I'd really not recommend replacing an OpenTherm setup with a binary on/off system, instead you might want to look at smart thermostats that are smart home compliant.

[RFLTools]

In addition to Shelly there is also Sonoff, which does have Zigbee (and also no-neutral).

I had the Sonoff installed but I found problems in that our electrical boxes are mostly metal (here in Canada) and the Sonoff do not have an external antenna (at least that's what I think the problem is). Ended up using Aqara Zigbee No Neutral switches which work marvelously.

[tc-ac]

I recommend using 3 way momentary switches when you run smart modules behind normal switches. We changed our entire house over and the wife didn't want "Smart" switches so we used nice chrome 3 way momentary switches so that you don't have that annoying issue when turned on by the physical switch and off via smart (or visa versa) and the switch being in the wrong place, with momentary switches they just return to "straight". Def an OCD thing but much nicer in my opinion. Work great with a mix of relays and and dimmers. Currently running a mix of Shelly WiFi and Fibaro Z-Wave devices. The aqara looks good, but also massive - would struggle to fit behind a lot of switches without digging out a bigger back box. The new shelly mini's are a game changer in this respect...

[netstar]

Great review. Unfortuantely, I don't see how the Aqara T2 Dual Relay would fit on a typical electrical "Gang" box in the states. There is barely enough room to fit the wall switches and wires in the box.
Excellent point made on turning off the power to all circuits at the circuit panel. I have personally experienced electrical circuits wired in series from other rooms that remain on when power is off in the one room you are working on.

[MakeitZUPER]

Great presentation as always. You're absolutely right about electricity. I've shut off light switches and still had power at the ceiling fixture. This is because in the early days of electrifying homes, lights had a pull cord switch. Adding a wall switch meant running a single (dual conductor) wire to the switch to interrupt power to the bulb. That being said, if you should find a switch box with a single wire going to it, there's a very likely chance that there are live wires there and at the actual light fixture. Nice job changing up the humor too btw.

[StuartFeltham]

I don't generally comment, but I use a Sonoff Zigbee mini extreme on my light switches. It's great and requires no neutral wire. It doesn't monitor energy use tho.

These look really interesting tho.

[uttula]

I don't know about the electrtic code in the UK, but my finnish electrician-persona was crying tears of blood by the colours of the wires used in the sample circuit :D Granted that it doesn't really matter, but ... as you said in the beginning, never trust your fuseboard because it is possible to mix things up - like I believe was done here in regards to the way blue and brown wires were used for the manual switches ;)

[MartyH]

As an electrician in Australia, wiring for anyone besides an electrician is a no go. I really appreciate the way you handled the working on electricity and the precautions needed.. Good work.

[bob_the_bomb]

I was really excited till I saw that neutral was required.

[robertspary]

Tuya have had a wifi unit for years and I have used this to control lights for the older members of the family and visitors who do not know who Alexa is! Also the dimmer unit allows you to use these press switches (not on off) to turn on/off lights and dim.

[PedroStephano]

Kudos Paul for the quality Elf’n’Safety caveats re electrics. Good one.

[garethjones]

Aqara & SwitchBot are the only 2 smart home device makers keeping me interested in the space right now

[paulthomas-vovf]

This may be good for 2 lights in a smaller back box. However, I think the fibaro dimmers are a better option, they’re smaller, offer dimming capabilities and also can work without a neutral connection. They also work with a range of switches, including the 3 position retractive for up/down dimming. They have loads of useful options too, such as soft start and action to take following a power cut.

[jaykay]

I've done a similar thing myself - a Zwave relay from Shelly (Qubino) to control my Combi Boiler directly, to pair with TRVs in every room paired with external temp sensors - a complete room-based heating solution!

[MathewSpearey]

Good shout to double check the connection at the switch, and not trusting the consumer unit. Nearly caught me out when I was changing a faceplate and found out that the light was connected to the boiler circuit not the downstairs lights circuit!

[MindForgedManacle]

EVVR has a neutral-less Matter-Zigbee smart relay and switch, for those complaining about neutral requirement.
I've never used it so I can't vouch for or against its quality, but there's a potential alternative. It even has an official Home Assistant integration.

[logikgear]

I love your humor and your videos are always entertaining. I wanted to say thank you for flipping serious when talking about the electrics with your demo board. Too many people don't take electricity seriously and are hurt or killed due to it. Keep the awesome content coming!

[jakeriff]

I second that -- best fart joke of 2023 (50 points to Paul)

[jrutgers]

I have sonoff zigbee relais behind a couple of switches for some time now.(couple of years now) they are quite a bit slimmer, the 1 channel version at least. they also have a version without a neutral wire and i believe even a 2 channel version. and are quite cheap. and work fine directly in HA, but no Aqara of course.